by Anna Adams
And love them.
“I’ll always be wherever you need me, Lilah.” He held out his hand and cradled the tender curve of her cheek. “Are you real?”
“Oh, I’m real, and I’m determined to try again. Can we see if we still love each other?”
He leaned down, kissing her with reassurance and gratitude, and love that he’d had no idea would ever be returned. “I’ll spend my life answering that question.”
“You’re too mushy,” Ben said. “Stop being smoochy.”
And that was how to start a brand-new life together.
EPILOGUE
“THE GROOM’S WAITING at the bottom of the stairs with the best man hopping at his side.” Suzannah had sneaked back inside the inn once Lilah’s own mother had taken her seat on the bride’s side of the tent erected in the yard.
“I thought they weren’t supposed to see me before the wedding.” Lilah adjusted her veil for the fiftieth time. “Could you help me with this pin, Suzannah? It’s digging into my skull.”
“You’re not afraid of bad luck, are you?”
That question was like throwing gas on a fire. Lilah was so determined never to be afraid of anything again.
“You asked that on purpose.”
“You bet.” Suzannah took the hairpin and tilted Lilah’s head. “Ben and Owen have gifts for you that they want you to have for the ceremony. Go down there, and then make your entrance.”
“You’d better explain to the guests we’ll be running a touch late.”
“Will do. I think this is right. Does it still hurt?”
Lilah touched the whisper-soft, translucent veil. “No. Thanks. Can you help me pull it back?”
Suzannah uncovered her face. “Don’t forget to have Owen pull it forward again, and hurry with those two, or your dad will come looking for you.”
She ran down the back stairs, and Lilah hurried down the ones that led to the dining room.
Owen and Ben, chatting with their heads together, stopped speaking immediately. Owen straightened, towering above his son, his stunned, adoring expression telling her everything she needed to know. Ben put his finger in his mouth.
“Pretty Mommy,” he said.
She laughed. “I think I just had my favorite moment in the wedding,” she said.
Owen beckoned her to hurry. “I’m sorry we’re late with this, but Butch was running late.”
“Butch Dayton?” She hurried down the rest of the stairs, peering outside through the wide windows. “The pig-iron sculptor?”
Owen took a brown paper bag out of his pocket. “He changed his medium for this. Sorry about the froufrou wrapping paper.”
“Wait’ll you see, Mommy.” Ben jumped up and down, landing on his father’s well-polished shoe.
Owen took a beautiful oval locket of beaten silver out of the bag, dangling it by a delicate platinum chain. He opened it and cradled it in his shaking palm. Lilah touched the photo of him and Ben in their wedding clothes, lovingly embraced by a heart insert.
“Perfect,” she said, barely managing a whisper. “How can I thank you?”
Owen hugged her tight. “Marry me,” he said.
“Put on the necklace,” Ben said. “You have to wear it when you and Daddy get married.”
She turned, and Owen fastened it for her. Then she knelt to pick up her son, uncaring of his flailing feet as he hugged her.
“I gotta go, Mommy. I gotta take Daddy to the end of that long white rug.”
“And I gotta go because I gotta marry you,” Owen said. “And then love you more and more every day of my life.”
“But wait.” She tugged his head down and kissed him. “I love you.” And with no fear at all, she made all her vows in her heart right then and there. She could speak them all day, but this moment, with just the three of them, was the one that mattered most.
* * * * *
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ISBN-13: 9781460389362
Owen’s Best Intentions
Copyright © 2015 by Anna Adams
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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